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SOURCES FOR A HISTORY OF THE 
MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 



BY 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 




C'CCi^-'^Li:.^^ V 




Reprinted from The Military Historian & Economist 
January, 1916, Vol. 1, pp. 18-32 



06 



SOURCES FOR A HISTORY OF THE MEXICAN 
WAR, 1846-1848 

Justin H. Smith 

Our war of 1846-48 has often been regarded as an isolated 
event, merely an episode in our history; and to a considerable 
extent so it was. We fought and we made conquests of value; 
but neither war nor conquest was an essential part of our 
national policy. We can lay our fingers upon the causes of 
the war one by one, and its results are equally within com- 
pass. No foreign nation became involved, nor did serious 
complications of any sort grow out of the affair. In short, 
it was much like a small, though vigorous, New England 
thunderstorm, made up of local currents and a few black, 
tufted clouds, which overwhelms some valley with darkness, 
roar and flood, yet is plainly visible in its entirety from the. 
neighboring mountain. For this reason the subject possesses 
a rare attractiveness for the investigator, so often baffled or 
embarrassed by the reach of his vistas; while at the same 
time, as will presently appear, certain peculiar subtleties create 
a special interest of precisely the opposite kind. 

However limited in length and breadth, the war had, of 
course, manifold aspects, and the fields of inquiry that must 
be cultivated are equally manifold. On the diplomatic side 
we find the series of causal events, the repeated attempts of 
our government to end hostilities, and the final armistice and 
treaty,— a treaty rendered supremely difficult and almost im- 
possible by extraordinary circumstances; and we find also 
broader outlooks resulting from the Oregon issue, our blockade 
of Mexico's ports, her privateering schemes, foreign attempts 
to interfere, the dream of combining the Spanish-American 
states against us, and the plans to obtain in one way or another 
European assistance for Mexico. The subject of military opera- 
tions includes not only marches, battles and sieges, strategy 
and tactics, arms and ammunition, camps and fortifications, 
but roads, bridges and transportation in a country widely 
different from our own, and various questions connected with 

[18] 



19 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

the composition, organization and training of the armies. The 
navy of the United States had, indeed, no antagonist upon 
its own element, but it was compelled to undertake important 
military operations and assume fiscal and political functions, 
while the principal work in its proper field — that of the block- 
ade — was made especially interesting by the extent of the 
coast, the tempests, bars and shoals, and the character of 
the rivers. These last facts bring us in turn to geography and 
topography, and we discover much here that requires unusual 
attention. 

Physically Mexico is an astonishing country, and it pre- 
sented to our troops very sharp and varied embarrassments: 
climates changing in the course of a day's march, mountains, 
defiles, deserts, marshes, lava-beds, thorny chaparral, edible 
products offering nourishment to some and poison to others, 
tropical storms and untropical droughts, animals like ours in 
name but not in quality, extraordinary opportunities for self- 
indulgence and extraordinary diseases. In the realm of politics 
each country shows us — in 1846-48, of course — its parties and 
partisans engaged in cunning and often unscrupulous manoeu- 
vres, complicated further by personal and sectional ambitions; 
we have to trace out the mysterious ways of legislators and 
rulers; and we are also confronted with the problems of gov- 
erning a conquered population. Akin to these arise social 
questions of a subtle and profound character. The Mexicans 
are not only foreign to us but intrinsically peculiar, — combin- 
ing the Spaniard, the Moor and the Indian, and including 
other strains also here and there; and their peculiarities must 
be seen and felt. The evolution of the Mexican world of 1846 
needs to be understood and its characteristics noted. The 
attempts to make the war a conflict of race and religion; the 
presence of many Roman Catholics among our people and our 
troops; the existence of slavery here and its non-existence 
there; and the effects of daily intercourse between Americans 
and Mexicans during our occupation of extensive districts, must 
all be given due study; and moreover under this head it should 
be remembered that the American people were not at that 
date precisely what they are now. 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 20 

Financially, the support of the war involved singular diffi- 
culties in both countries. Mexico had to fight on a general 
basis of bankruptcy; and the United States prepared for the 
extra expense by adopting a low tariff and experimenting with 
other important fiscal measures. How both sides got on as 
well as they did requires to be ascertained. The personal 
characteristics and personal relations of the chief actors in 
the drama had, of course, vital bearings on the events; and, 
last but perhaps not least in this partial catalogue, we desire 
to know with what sentiments the progress and the conse- 
quences of our operations were viewed by foreign governments 
and nations. On all these topics information is available, and 
we may now take up the sources relating to each of them, 
dealing first with the manuscripts. 

Many of the diplomatic papers referring to the war have 
been published, but many have not; and, aside from the 
desirability of collating the former with the originals, in not 
a few cases highly significant portions were omitted in the 
printing. One has recourse, then, to the archives of the 
State Department, and must obtain access "without restric- 
tion" to the papers. These include not only communications 
between the government and its diplomatic and consular rep- 
resentatives, but the instructions to and letters from our con- 
fidential agents, notes to and from the foreign legations at 
Washington, Report Books, Confidential Report Books, Do- 
mestic Letter Books, Miscellaneous Letters and replies, and 
the circulars issued to our representatives in foreign parts. 
The countries concerned are Mexico, Great Britain, France, 
Spain (including Cuba), and the Republic of Texas; and the 
period to be covered extends from the beginning of the inter- 
national relations of Mexico to 1848 inclusively.! Indexes 

* Great Britain, having immense interests in Mexico and feeling appre- 
hensive lest the United States should gain large accessions of territory at 
the expense of our neighbor, was profoundly concerned about our relations 
with that country. In France, the King and Guizot, his chief minister, felt 
strongly disposed to oblige England, and also entertained the idea of ex- 
tending to this continent the balance-of-power system that reigned in Europe, 
while Thiers and others, voicing the popular sentiment, were cold toward 
England, friendly toward the United States and anxious to use as a political 
weapon the tendency of the government to concern itself in a pro-British 
manner with the difficulties between this country and Mexico. Spain and 



21 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

afford some assistance but do not mention everything of im- 
portance. One must examine the papers in detail; and this 
rule holds good in every other collection of official documents 
as well, — in many instances, indeed, far more truly. Some 
important diplomatic papers are outside the archives of the 
State Department. For instance, Mackenzie's reports on his 
mission to Santa Anna in 1846 are among the Polk papers, 
now belonging to the Library of Congress; and the personal 
papers of certain American diplomats are precious supplements 
to their official despatches. Among these are Poinsett's (Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society), Bancroft's (Massachusetts His- 
torical Society), Trist's (Library of Congress), Larkin's (Ban- 
croft Collection, University of California) and Wheaton's 
(Massachusetts Historical Society). Mexico also has published 
a portion of her diplomatic correspondence in this field, but 
the archives, although removals and damage resulting from 
the political vicissitudes of the country have caused numerous 
gaps, afford much additional information. They are found 
naturally in charge of the Department of Foreign Relations 
{Secretaria de Relaciones Exterior es). 

Here, however, the inquiry by no means comes to an end. 
From 1825 on. Great Britain held a very strong position in 
Mexico; and her ministers at that post made frequent and 
full reports. Able, comparatively impartial, close to the heart 
of things, and for every reason anxious to ascertain and state 
the truth, they give us the best "inside" views of persons and 
events that we can find ; and they not only had a great deal to 
say about our relations with that unfortunate country, but 
at certain critical times played an important role in its coun- 
sels. Besides, England exerted herself at Washington, at Paris 
and with our representatives at Mexico; and hence, for the 

the Spanish took far less interest in the matter, though hopes were enter- 
tained that fear of the United States might draw Mexico, and indeed all 
the Spanish-American states, toward and possibly to the mother-country. 
They felt sympathy for the Mexicans, but could not forget that Mexico had 
rebelled. Prussia had a representative in Mexico but did not wish to become 
or have him become, involved in difficulties there. With what indifference 
she held aloof may be ascertained conveniently from the Wheaton papers 
(Massachusetts Historical Society). The countries of Central and South 
America took surprisingly little interest in the war. 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 22 

best of reasons, these reports, preserved with the other For- 
eign Office Papers at the Public Record Office, London, must 
be thoroughly studied. 

The corresponding French documents (kept in the Archives 
du D^partement des Affaires Etrang^res, Paris) are much less 
valuable, for the agents of France were inferior men, their 
relations with the Mexican government — in addition to suffer- 
ing from quarrels and a war— were seldom intimate, and the 
reports for 1846-48, being in the same volume as papers not 
open to the public, cannot be seen; but on several matters, 
particularly while Poinsett was the American minister at that 
capital, they present valuable information. Spain did not 
recognise Mexico until 1836, and for a long time after that 
date was looked upon with just suspicion; for a strong mon- 
archical party existed in Mexico, leaning naturally toward the 
mother-country, and she not only entertained hopes but made 
efforts to set up a Bourbon prince in her one-time colony; 
but there was no difference of sentiment in regard to the 
United States and kinship counted for much. The reports of 
the Spanish legation, therefore, especially since it had charge 
for a considerable time of French interests also, cannot be 
ignored. Space may perhaps be taken for a single illustration 
of this fact. Wonder has often been felt that Castillo y Lanzas, 
the Mexican Minister of Relations, who was known to favor 
a peaceful settlement with this country, should have addressed 
the hostile and insulting note of March 12, 1846, to our min- 
ister, Slidell, — the last important communication received by 
us from his government before the outbreak of hostilities; but 
it appears from the despatch of Sefior D. Salvador Bermudez 
de Castro, the Spanish minister. No. 218 (Res.), of March 29, 
that he himself put order and iron into the irresolute and 
almost incoherent draft of Castillo, and that he did so with 
the expectation, not of a war, but of arbitration. These des- 
patches are at the Archivo Particular del Ministerio de Estado, 
Madrid. As regards Cuba, some interesting documents may 
be found in the National Archives of that Republic. ^ 

2 The author extended his inquiries to Colombia and Peru, but with only 
negative results. 



23 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

Next we come to the field of military operations. Although 
numerous works have been written upon the Mexican War, 
none of their authors has gone through the military archives 
of either government, but it does not by any means follow 
that the archives are of slight significance. To be sure, a 
great number of the papers were made public; but a great 
number were not, while omissions and the printer's inaccu- 
racies impair the value of too many published reports.' 
The historian must go, therefore, to the War Department at 
Washington, and examine one by one the following papers, 
most of which are in charge of the Adjutant General: Secre- 
tary of War's files. Adjutant General's files. Military Book, 
Adjutant General's Miscellany (principally Discontinued Com- 
mands), General Orders, Order Books, Quartermaster General's 
files. Judge Advocate General's files. Records of Courts Martial 
and Courts of Inquiry, and Engineer's files, going back in 
certain cases as far as the early part of 1845. The number 
of these documents is large; and to them must be added not 
only the records and archives of State governments, but the 
papers of officials, officers and soldiers (especially diaries), 
reposing in archives, libraries, the vaults of historical socie- 
ties and the closets of private individuals all over the country. 
This last branch of the investigation is naturally most slow 
and tedious, and it requires the kind co-operation of many 
personal and professional friends. ^ Among those which may 
be discovered are unpublished papers of such men as Marcy, 
Taylor, Conner, Pillow, Duncan, Quitman, Pierce, Hitchcock, 
Jefferson Davis, Braxton Bragg, Robert Anderson, S. E. 
Chamberlain, P. G. T. Beauregard, D. H. Hill, G. B. Mc- 
Clellan, W. B. Campbell, B. S. Roberts and W. R. Caswell. 
For the southwest, particular recourse must be had to the 
Bancroft Collection. 



3 See a brief article by the present writer in the American Historical Review 
of October, 1915. 

^ The present writer advertised and also addressed a letter to every Mexican 
War survivor with a view to learning of documents, and in these ways ob- 
tained valuable results. 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 24 

Still more numerous are the Mexican military documents.* 
The chief body of these exists in what is known as Fraccion 
I. of the War Department archives (National Palace, Mex- 
ico), imperfectly arranged in thick bundles called Legajos or 
else piled without any classification at all in a heap upstairs ;« 
but other important papers are in charge of the General 
Staff, in the Archivo General (particularly the proceedings of 
many courts martial), and the National Library; while nearly 
all of the maps that one desires to see belong now to the 
Cartographical Section of the Fomento Department. The 
State archives also are to be consulted. While those of Puebla 
and of Vera Cruz (the latter kept at Jalapa) seem to be nearly 
or perhaps quite complete, others have suffered more or less 
from accident and revolution; but the custom of sending dup- 
licates of official communications to all the States affords a 
ground for believing that little has really been lost. The city 
archives, especially in the districts entered by our forces, 
must likewise be searched. In all, the present writer probably 
examined more than 80,000 such Mexican documents and 
found some 8,000 of them valuable. In addition to the Amer- 
ican and Mexican sources, the diplomatic and consular reports 
of the British, French and Spanish agents have something to 
say regarding the military operations. 

For the work of our fleets one studies the archives of the 
Navy Department, — particularly the Squadron Letters, Cap- 
tains' Letters and Confidential Letter Books. In Mexico the 
na\^ was an insignificant concern, and its affairs were con- 
trolled by the same department {Guerra y Marina) as those 
of the army. Some details are discovered in the local Mexican 
archives also, and in the foreign diplomatic and consular 
reports; the papers of the British Admiralty Office, preserved 
in the Public Record Office at London, throw light upon Cali- 

^ A word should be said here with reference to the broadmindedness of 
President Porfirio Diaz, without whose assistance a thorough examination 
of the Mexican papers would have been impossible. When assured that 
the results of the investigation would be stated impartially, he promised 
me all the aid in his power. This meant everything; and not only were the 
national archives thrown open, but I was able to travel about with a certifi- 
cate that I had the approbation of the government, which gave me access 
to State and city archives and all the contents of the public libraries. 

8 The arrangement may have been changed since my visit. 



25 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

fornia affairs, the capture of Vera Cruz, the blockade and some 
other matters; and in the National Archives at Madrid may 
be found correspondence relating to the blockade and to 
rumors of privateering enterprises in Cuban ports. 

On both sides, the political aspects of the war are remark- 
ably interesting. With reference to American affairs the in- 
quirer should examine the files of the national Senate and 
House, and the House manuscripts turned over to the Library 
of Congress, though — to tell the truth — he will find them 
disappointing. The reports of the British minister at Wash- 
ington, who stood in close relations with leading Whigs, afford 
a good deal of information at times; and still more can be 
derived from the papers of Jackson (though he died before 
the war actually began). Van Buren, Crittenden, Hammond, 
Polk, McLean, Clay, Fairfield, Clayton, Webster and Welles 
(all of which are accessible at the Library of Congress), Ban- 
croft (Massachusetts Historical Society), Buchanan (Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society) and other more or less prominent 
politicians. As for Mexico, the Department of Gobernacion 
(that is to say, Relaciones Interiores) has many documents 
relating to the internal affairs of the country. Among them, 
for instance, is a full official account of the meeting of the 
Governors called by the President in 1847 to discuss the ques- 
tion of making peace. In this field also the diplomatic and 
consular reports already several times mentioned are positively / 
invaluable. The present writer was permitted to examine the 1 
papers — most of them belonging to the distinguished historical \ 
author, Senor D. Genaro Garcfa — of such persons as Santa * 
Anna, Paredes and Anaya; and still others exist in public 4 
libraries, like those of Perez de Acal at Guadalajara. On the -^ 
state of things in California the Bancroft Collection has much 
to give. For the political aspects of the American occupation 
the reports of our officers and the local Mexican archives are 
requisite. On the social and financial sides of the war much 
is to be learned from the political sources already mentioned, 
but these topics will be taken up more fully below. For the 
views and sentiments entertained abroad one examines first 



1 

1 

1 , 


1 

1 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 26 

of all the diplomatic correspondence, and then one supple- 
ments this with published material. 

We come now to the printed sources, which it is obviously- 
impossible to describe adequately within the limits of this 
article. The most important class is naturally books, and 
these — it need not be said — are of every kind and every degree 
of merit. At the head stand our Congressional publications, — 
the President's Messages, the proceedings of the Legislative 
branch and the Executive Documents, Reports and Miscellany 
of the Senate and House. In these many and bulky volumes 
one finds official, though not for that reason necessarily cor- 
rect, data upon every phase of the conflict with Mexico. The 
debates of Congress were almost interminable and full of repe- 
tition, errors and unreason, but they must be sifted, and they 
repay the trouble. Not less important are such biographies 
as Colton's Clay, Coleman's Crittenden, Meade's Meade and 
even Claiborne's Quitman, for they include many first-hand 
documents; but it must be remembered that we cannot collate 
these with the originals. On the same plane stand volumes 
Hke McCall's Letters From the Frontiers, Sedgwick's Correspon- 
dence, Buchanan's Works (edited by J. B. Moore), and Rami- 
rez' Mexico durante su Guerra con los Estados Unidos. Several 
histories of the war contain similar material, and a few, 
though based upon a very incomplete knowledge of the 
sources, were composed by participants and therefore to a 
certain extent may be classed as themselves first-hand. 
These, however, were very likely — like Ripley's, which aimed 
to exalt Pillow and discredit Scott, or Semmes's, written under 
the magnetic influence of Worth — to be tinctured with the 
personal and political prejudices and passions of the day, and 
it is frequently impossible to determine where the author's 
observation ended and hearsay began. On the Mexican side 
there are numerous volumes of Memorias, official reports of 
the executive departments, often accompanied with documents, 
and other publications issued by authority; and there are 
numerous biographies, autobiographies and histories of more 
or less value. Negrete's Invasion de los Norte-Americanos 
en Mexico contains more documents than any other work 



27 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

on the subject, but they were carelessly printed. The book 
of Roa Barcena, that issued by fifteen collaborators under the 
title Apuntes para la Historia de la Guerra entre Mexico y los 
Estados-Unidos, and the first-hand narrative of Balbontin are 
of much worth. 

On the political side we find histories, biographies and 
special studies in profusion, and while many are generous 
with mistakes and prejudices, few indeed are destitute of 
value, and in proportion as one advances in his mastery of 
the subject, the danger of using them diminishes. On strategy 
and tactics the list of works is large, but those recommended 
to graduates of West Point by a board of officers, in addition 
to some of later dates, Scott's Tactics the knowledge which 
a competent historian would naturally possess, that derived 
from the Mexican War material itself and that obtained by 
consulting military experts, may be deemed sufficient. The 
forces engaged were small and the operations comparatively 
simple. Most of the reports were prepared for — and many 
by — ^persons but sliglitly versed in the art of war, and nearly 
all of the necessary criticism has already been offered by 
military men. Vattel's Droit des Gens embodies the ac- 
cepted international law of the period. Books of travel from 
Humboldt's down, with maps, geographical treatises and mili- 
tary reports — particularly those of the American engineers, 
many of which are still in manuscript at the Engineer's Office, 
War Department, Washington — give an excellent if not ade- 
quate view of the physical features of the country; and his- 
tories, biographies and books of travel, supplemented with 
the American, British, French and Spanish reports, our mili- 
tary accounts of the occupation and incidental points in other 
material, present an abundance of data out of which, if one 
be propc ly grounded to interpret them, the necessary social 
atmosphere can be manufactured. 

With books go pamphlets, which were far more important 
in Mexico than among us, and contained military and political 
facts and views not elsewhere to be discovered. Such tran- 
sient publications, which fell in the streets of Mexico at cer- 
tain crises like autumn leaves, perish easily; but a great many 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 28 

have found safe lodging places in the National Library and 
the National Museum of that city, in municipal libraries, in 
the Bancroft Collection and in private hands. The list of 
books and pamphlets which the thorough historian would feel 
bound to study includes about 1,000 or 1,100 titles according 
:,o one's method of reckoning, though naturally others would 
be examined. 

Pamphlets bring us to periodicals. These include the long 
list of magazines published in all the countries mentioned, in 
which many first-hand papers and not a few interesting facts 
and ideas are presented; but the only periodicals of which 
it is necessary to speak at any length are the newspapers. 
Many diplomatic, military and naval documents of an offi- 
cial character appeared in their columns, but these will 
have been discovered elsewhere in a more authentic form. 
Such is not the case, however, with an almost endless number 
of unofficial communications from the army and the navy. 
It hardly need be said that careless, designing and boastful 
persons walked about and wrote letters two generations ago 
as actively as now. We of today could not reasonably hope 
to enjoy a monopoly of such news. But accounts like those 
contributed to the New Orleans Picayune by its travelling 
editors or its correspondent " H." (Haile), those in the Delta 
of the same city from "Mustang" (Freaner), those in the 
New York Spirit of the Times, which are known to have come 
from Captain Henry, an excellent officer, and others whose 
authors are found to have been careful and intelligent men, 
are entitled to a fair share of credence. Robert E. Lee was 
among these anonymous writers. On political and social ques- 
tions the newspapers must be considered invaluable, provided 
a sufficient number of them are compared. The leading jour- 
nals in the United States, Mexico, England and Fve '^e need 
to be examined day by day during the continuance of the 
war, — indeed, for some time before and after it; and many 
others must be read at certain periods.^ All sections, parties 

' For the United States the two most important journals were the National 
Intelligencer (Whig) and Union (Democratic) of Washington, and these may 
be examined at the Library of Congress. The Picayune and other news- 
papers of New Orleans, which for geographical reasons were of special value, 



29 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

and influential shades of opinion need to be considered in 
each of these countries. Financial information, too, must be 
sought for not only in the statements of ministers of the 
treasury here and elsewhere and the rather slight information 
given by histories and magazines devoted to money, banking 
and finance, but in the daily fluctuations of the markets and 
the daily comments of the money "article." Summing up] 
then, the documents printed and in manuscript, and including\ 
those others which bear upon the annexation of Texas »— an 
integral part of the subject — one must admit that the number 
is rather large. 

Our final category of sources is the personal. A record was 
imprinted on the minds of participants in the war, and this 
also is worthy of attention. During the past ten years the 
present writer has talked with not a few of the veterans, 
both American and Mexican. Testimony relating to events 
of so distant a period should, of course, be viewed with a most 
critical eye. As a rule it is without historical value. Some 
men forget what occurred, and others recollect admirably what 
did not occur. But occasionally a veteran's mind is perfectly 
clear in reference to events that impressed themselves upon 
it with peculiar distinctness and have frequently been re- 
called to his memory, and here and there he can fill a gap in / 
harmony with all the documents. This class of sources is \ 
now, however, ceasing rapidly to exist. f 

are conveniently accessible at the City Hall of that place. Other leading ] 
sheets, most of which are in the Library of Congress, were the Atlas, and \ 
Courier of Boston, the Evening Post, Courier and Enquirer, Herald, Tribune, 1 
Sun and Courier des Etats Unis of New York, the Ledger and North American ) 
of Philadelphia, the Sun and American of Baltimore, the Enquirer of Rich- ( 
mond, the Courier and Mercury of Charleston; but the number that must 
be consulted is much greater. At Mexico the best collection is in the library 
of the Hacienda (Treasury) Department. The principal papers were the 
official Diario, El Siglo XIX., El Republicano, and El Monitor Republicano, 
but the total number worth more or less study was legion. Those published 
near the fields of operations naturally contained much interesting news. 
The most important English journal (British Museum) was the Times, but 
the Morning Chronicle, Morning Post, Morning Herald, and several others 
represented influential constituencies. At Paris, (Bibliot^que Nationale) the 
Journal des D6bats, Le Constitutionnel, Le National, V Epoque and others 
were noteworthy. For Spain El Heraldo is enough. The periodicals that 
can be used more or less extensively with substantial profit number about 400. 
^ See the "Account of the Sources," pp. 471-76 of a book on this topic 
by the author of the present article. 



JUSTIN H. SMITH 30 

I Yet there is — to conclude our cursory survey of the field — 
a personal source free from the defects just suggested. To 
avoid both inadequacy and exaggeration one should see Raton 
Mountain, Santa Fe, Monterey Harbor, San Pedro, San Diego. 
Still more is it necessary to inspect the almost vertical steeps 
climbed by Taylor's men at the "Bishop's Palace" of Mon- 
terey, the sand-hills at Vera Cruz, the heights and gorges of 
Cerro Gordo, the ravines threaded in darkness and storm at 
Contreras and the rocky fastness of Chapultepec. Hardly 
less important is a realization of the scenes through which 
our troops passed on their marches. Here, for example, in 
the vicinity of Cordoba and Jalapa they find themselves gazing 
at almost sheer walls clothed with a perfect Eden of tropical 
vegetation; arcades of verdure on the walls, castles of verdure 
^on the arcades, palaces of verdure on the castles, and cathe- 
drals of verdure on the palaces; verdure everywhere, not only 
uilded, but flowing, dripping, tumbling, spurting, in every 
ue and shade of living green; torrents and floods of green; 
illows and surf of green; leaves as broad as a man, leaves as 
in as a needle; leaves bursting with venom, leaves that shoot 
'h a fierce green jet like the copper flame of a blowpipe; with 
ere and there a silver cascade sparkling down the mountain 
ide, and now and then drifting perfumes that make the trav- 
ller quite forget his eyes; and with birds in green, blue, scarlet 
nd yellow, birds like dark opals, birds that flash by like a 
usical bullet, singing birds, talking birds. That such things 
helped the soldiers to bear their hardships and stimulated 
them to fresh exertions goes without saying. Their diaries 
and letters confirm this opinion, and a remark of General 
Scott himself illuminates it, for he said with reference to the 
noble view of Mexico city, first seen by our army as it came 
over the mountains from Puebla, "Recovering from the sub- 
lime trance, probably not a man in the column failed to say 
"to his neighbor or himself: That splendid city shall be ours." 9 
Far more needful, however, is a personal acquaintance with 
the people of Mexico, for out of their psychology grew mainly 
the causes, the course and the results of the war, and it stands 
9 Memoirs, II, 467. 



31 SOURCES FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 

much apart from our own. One has to learn how near to the 
pride and honor of the Castihan grandee can dwell the duplicity, 
vanity and vulgarity of the most inferior minds. One has to 
discover how much more effective a soft, elusive cleverness 
can sometimes be than our own sharp and forceful smartness. 
The Indian, sombre and rich in hidden fire like the flint, who 
was our principal antagonist in the field, repays attention. l 
A dinner party of gentlemen, all friends, becoming so intox- ] 
icated with the swift, sonorous accents of their knightly tongue ) 
that rapiers appear likely to be the next course is highly 
instructive ; and the daintily slippered ladies, with teeth whiter • 
than milk and soft, black eyes, so deep and languid, explain i 
a great deal in Mexican character and history. The reader, i 
to be sure, will have to accept the results of such observations 
on faith; but a second-hand impression is very different indeed 
from one at third hand, and a true interpretation of the factsj 
differs yet more from a false interpretation. ! 

Naturally the question will present itself whether so extended/ 
an investigation as that outlined above is worth while. It wil/ 
be suspected that beyond a certain line only minute point 
remain to be discovered; and undoubtedly one does reach £ 
place, far short of the end, where the percentage of important' 
new material begins to be low. Some of the most valuable 
is, however, still before the searcher, and it should not be 
forgotten that omitting a vital point is worse than a vital 
error, because less readily detected. There are, too, a number 
of other good reasons for continuing to delve. Small data fre- 
quently prove to be the keystones of arches or missiles that 
lay low quite pretentious tales. Cumulative evidence, made 
up of individually slight facts, is often most significant, — 
confirming, supplementing or refuting many points in the , 
major documents. Numerous errors exist in statements com- 1 
ing from the best accredited sources; 3 and there are singular! 
omissions, which only the most persistent inquiry enables the 
historian to supply. Again, one is often saved by minute 
investigation from natural but unsound inferences. An ex- 
cellent historical scholar has declared that when Santa Anna 
returned to Mexico in August, 1846, he was received at Vera 



, JUSTIN H. SMITH 32 

Cruz "as a hero." Since the nation — to speak broadly — was 
looking to the General as its champion against the United 
States, this appeared to be a safe statement. But in point 
of fact the Council (Ayuntamiento) of that city had just 
refused to support the movement in his favor; even his young 
and pretty wife, pouting with chagrin at the coldness of his 
reception, was unable to excite any enthusiasm for him; and 
a tinman, speaking in the name of the people, lectured him 
soundly in public on his past misdeeds, i" Besides, even if 
the investigator examine a mass of material without unearth- 
ing a single nugget, he and his readers can feel so much more 
confident that his conclusions are not likely to be upset by 
future discoveries. And, finally, it is in this way only that 
both he and they can acquire that sense of approxim.ate com- 
pleteness, which was noted in the first place as a particular 
attraction of the subject. 

^^ Ayuntamiento to Landero and P6rez, Aug. 1, 1846: Vera Cruz archives. 
Ruxton, Adventures, 17, 18. Tributo a la Verdad, 14. Comandante of Vera 
Cruz to Guerra y Marina, Aug. 22, 1846: Archives of G. y M., Mexico. 

Justin H. Smith 



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